Losanjealous Commenter of the Month Award

At our last staff meeting, after the long silence following De Marco’s Powerpoint presentation, the idea of a Losanjealous “Commenter of the Month Award” was thrown out on the table. The suggestion was mocked and promptly forgotten as matters turned to ordering food. This was early July. Cut to a couple of weeks ago, when, frisking a rented tuxedo vest (8 weeks late = $366.22), I found a cocktail napkin in the pocketwatch slit with the minutes of that meeting. The relevant scrawling upon it read: “COMNTR O’ MO.” Looking back, I’m not exactly sure who exactly put forth that idea, as we tend to be drunk at our meetings, but we were happy to recover it and finally put it into action here. -Ed.

It gives us much pleasure–too much, really–to present the first ever Losanjealous Commenter of the Month Award (LCMA–not to be confused with the LAMAs or LACMA) to:

(MV)Pete
September 2006

If you might think of Losanjealous as a bar like Cheers, then (MV)Pete may well be our Cliff Claven, ever present at the bar, ready with acute facts and ready opinions both commonplace and outlandish, never failing to observe the going-ons with a discerning perspective and voice all his own. You already know his knowledge of Los Angeles area municipal matters, topography and taco vendors is second to none. But now we hope to reveal to you another side of (MV)Pete. On to the Q&A.OK, let’s take you back to your first comment ever. It was on November 29, 2005, on a post entitled “I Love Lucy’s” about the Lucy’s restaurant chain:

“There’s also a Lucy’s on Washington, at either Vermont or Hoover. I considered hitting that last night when coming home late from USC but decided to stick with Chano’s.”

That’s not my first Losanjealous comment, I’m pretty sure–check for comments by “slightlyslack” or just “slack.” (We’re off to a great start. You’re fired, factchecker. -Ed.)

In any case, I have decided that Chano’s sucks the low low.

As that post remained active, you would go on to comment six additional times on that same post. I think in some ways that piece content and comment pattern foreshadowed the areas of interest for your future comments, namely Mexican food and city topography, as well as a willingness to stay with a thread to engage with other readers. Would you agree?

LA City Nerd calls me the “Transportation Policy, Planning & Development Nerd,” but really I should just be the “Taco/Geography Nerd.”

It would seem that our post content and your personal interests frequently align at Losanjealous. Do you find that to be the case as well? Or, conversely, do you ever find yourself using post content as a “jumping off point” for your own concerns?

We’re all white (quasi-)hipsters here, dude. I mean, that’s an Achewood shirt I’m wearing in my pic. I like eating street tacos and discovering cool nabes and bitching about poorly designed intersections, and you guys happen to as well.

Now, some general commenting questions: How would you describe that initial impulse that makes you reach for the keyboard to comment?

Bursts of narcissism.

How would you describe your own commenting style?

Asperger’s-tastic.
You mention USC often, leaving us to guess you are/were a student there. Do you know Justin Hall, who is frequently credited as being the first ever “blogger,” and is a currently a graduate student there?

I am indeed a Trojan. I’m doing a PhD in the School of Policy, Planning, and Development. Regarding Mr. Hall, dude seriously needs to reconsider the haircut and outfit in that picture. It’s like Carlos D meets Billy Corgan–nasty.

In one particular comment, you pointed to another comment of yours on another site (in a bit of self-hyperlinking that surely post-modernists must find delicious), in which you alluded to the fact that you are/were raised Mormon. Presumably you go into more personal details on your own blog. Are you completely conscientious about revelation of personal details in your comments?

Are there any other commenters on our site or any other sites whom you admire and with whom you enjoy exchanging comments the most? How about any commenters that might antagonize you, whom you enter into heated arguments? Any “Anti-Petes” out there that stalk and mock your comments around the blogosphere?

Jeanette is awesome. The exchange on the “Lincoln Boulevard Cock Car” thread has put a bug in my ass to write, as a parody of the dreadful ’90s Nic Cage vehicle “8mm,” a song detailing a man’s obsessive search for the penis taco of which an old Zacatecan told him before stumbling drunkenly into the path of the #204 bus on Vermont Avenue. Musically, I’m hearing something along the lines of King Missile meets The Jesus Lizard.

Some days see spikes in your commenting frequency. (for example, 6 comments on 12/5; 5 comments on 12/13/05, etc.) Would you say these peaks have more to do with free time, boredom or genuine interest in the items on the site that day?

#1 and #3.

At a certain point, you began to sign off as “(MV) Pete” instead of just “Pete.” Do you see this as an evolution into a new commenting persona or just a new handle for same ol’ you? Do you comment in persona or are you “yourself” in your comments for the most part? If we met you on the street, would you hold fast to the many, various opinions you espouse in our pages?

I don’t affect a persona; that would take too much effort. As I recall, I switched to “(MV) Pete” because Ryan called me “Palms Pete” but I can’t really be Palms Pete anymore now that I live in Mar Vista.

One of the inherent deficiencies of the post/comment communication channel is that without the proper context, one can easily appear as a “know-it-all” or a nitpicker whenever they offer a suggestion or a correction over, say, for example, a matter of geographical inaccuracy put forth by a previous commenter. Are such occasions to deliver a correction ones you seek out with relish or is this something that appears to be so only after the fact?

Dude, I’m a total “know-it-all” in real life, and I hate it. I seriously should get therapy or start smoking weed or something.

Finally, are there any closing remarks you’d like to make? People you’d like to thank, rub it in the face of those you thought you wouldn’t amout to anything, or words of encouragement for up and coming commenters hoping to break in?

I meant to tell Intern Shane once that he really looked like a Mormon missionary the time he wore a short-sleeved white shirt and a solid-color tie in one of his food reviews. He should totally come up to people on the street and say, “Hi, can I share a message with you about Cuchi Cuchi?”

[…] All hands on Pete! We are looking a bonafide four-alarm emergency right in the face. MVPete has gone missing. Originally I thought he’d dropped off the radar after I told him to stop calling people ugly, but the fact of the matter is that ten short days later, inaugural Losanjealous Commenter of the Month MVPete has gone missing – not only from the smug-infused comment section of your local blogs, but from his own knowledge base as well, SlightlySlack, where his last posting (04 Nov 2006) sits molding in silence, akin to a well-worn sitcom career gambling reinvigoration with a Friday set at the Laugh Factory. […]

[…] Do you feel you could out-comment incumbent Commenter of the Month, (MV)Pete? Compare and contrast your commenting style to his. I don’t know if I can topple his knowledge on taco stands in the L.A. area though La Estrella in Highland Park can hold its own. When looking for good eats, Pete is the go-to guy. But more than likely I’ll blow out his iTunes playlists any day. […]

Commenters, a very very very very complicated and top secret algorithm was developed by a team of Russian coders to determine the commenter of the month. Although the exact nature can not be revealed, you can easily determine that it has something to do with a formula that sends up a red flag whenever total comment words from one user exceeds total number of words in a story. Another flag is thrown up for a high percentage of superfluous band name mentions and Interpol references while another bot searches for the phrases “don’t you mean” and “I disagree”.

Who knowsâ€¦ you might just reach the next level of commenting by giving shout outs to Shane, fighting with Victor or by posting irrelevant facts about the Gallagher brothers, Oasis rumors and declarations of love entirely in Spanish in the comment sections.

p.s. to (MV)Pete: Justin Hall is a friend of mine ! Could it be maybe you’re a little jealous of his natty personal style?